Egg rolls: the burnt ones were cooked first and it took me a few batches to figure out proper browning requirement time.
I made these once before (click the link below). While I thought I cut the entire recipe to a quarter, I mistakenly used too many bean threads. This time, I made it a point to use only one bunch of bean threads and upped the quantity of pork. Like I said before, I like pork.
Joanne's Yummy Egg Rolls, Take 2
1/2 lb of ground pork
2 1/4 tsp of ginger
1 tbsp of garlic
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/4 head of cabbage, shredded
1 carrot, julienned
1/2 onion, thinly sliced and quartered
1 bunch of scallions, chopped
1 bunch of bean thread noodles
eggrolls wrappers
vegetable oil
egg
Put the bean threads in a large mixing bowl.
In a large skillet, add 2 teaspoons of oil, ginger, garlic and pork.
Working quickly, completely cook the pork and stir in the oyster sauce.
Pour the pork and liquid over the bean threads. Cover the bowl with a lid.
In the same frypan, over medium heat, add another 2 teaspoons of oil and add cabbage to the oil.
Stir fry until the cabbage is wilted, but not totally soggy. Add the cabbage to the pork and threads. Cover.
Continue batch frying the carrots and onions with oil and add to the cooked ingredients until you are done frying. Cover.
Add scallions to the bowl of cooked vegetables and slowly begin mixing the ingredients.
If the noodles are soft enough (like last time, mine were certainly not), take kitchen shears and cut them into smaller pieces. If your noodles are NOT soft enough and there doesn't seem to be enough liquid or heat to make the noodles soft enough, add boiling water in 1/4 cup increments, slowly, mixing as you go, in order to produce the soft noodles and yield a uniform filling. Cut noodles once softened.
This time, I dumped in 1/2 cup of boiling water and it worked out almost perfectly. Some strands were pretty tough, but I guessed they'd soften as they fried.
Heat oil in a skillet or pot. I used my 8" cast iron skillet last time. I used it again this time, with the same oil even.
Meanwhile, roll the egg rolls like burritos, securing the final seam with beaten egg. Place seam-side down while waiting to fry.
Place eggrolls into hot oil allowing enough room to move around. The filling is completely cooked and the objective is to fry the skin to a golden brown.
NOTE: If your oil has been used once before, frying time is drastically reduced! Browning occurs very quickly!
Allow egg rolls to cool on a wire rack.
These were, in our opinion, better than the first/last time I made them. Increased pork and decreased bean threads were certainly key. One thing I've yet to figure out is how Joanne doesn't have to add water to her final mixture in order for the bean threads to soften.
One thing I did notice is that if the cabbage is not sliced thin enough or wilted well enough, the harder thick parts will make it a point to jab straight through the wrappers while wrapping. As you can imagine, this is frustrating. Be sure to cut your veggies very thin, particularly the "woodier" pieces.
I should note that I omitted salting the vegetables this time. That might have something to do with the fact that the woodier cabbage pieces didn't wilt.
And maybe that has something to do with how my bean threads didn't get enough moisture! Eureka!
Next time, I'll salt the vegetables, especially the cabbage, more generously. That will draw out the moisture from the cabbage inducing a quicker wilt and more water to pour over the bean threads.
Cost:
- ground pork: $1.22
- ginger: $0.15
- oyster sauce: $0.12
- cabbage: $0.42
- carrots: $0.40
- onion: $0.20
- bean thread noodles: $0.25
- egg roll wrappers: $0.75
- egg: $0.18
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